


Tread

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Inktober 2019 [20]
Category: BTOB
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swimming, Bogeyman, M/M, Missing Persons, in the first ch, in the second one, there's really no triggers imagine that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 09:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21116486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Inktober 2019, Day Twenty!Prompt: TreadGroup: BTOBPairing: Ilhoon/MinhyukA: Minhyuk always pushes Ilhoon to do better.M: Tread lightly. For the Bogeyman will get you if you don’t.[[PLEASE NOTE THAT WE, THE AUTHORS, HAVE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION FOR THIS WORK TO BE RE-POSTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT DIRECTLY ON AO3. IF YOU SEE THIS WORK ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE REPORT IT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND NOTIFY US AT LIVING.LENIENTLY@GMAIL.COM. THANK YOU.]]





	1. Ashlee

Lee Minhyuk was the bane of Ilhoon’s existence. Twenty one may seem a little young to have a mortal enemy, but no one could convince him that Minhyuk was anything other than the enemy. Minhyuk was the lead butterfly for Huta University, which meant he was Ilhoon’s direct competitor. They’d been swimming against each other for three seasons now and every year, Minhyuk had just barely come out on top. Now that they were seniors, Ilhoon was determined to finally break the streak. 

To his luck, he and Minhyuk trained at the same facility, which meant that he could sneak in on the older man’s practice sessions without being called out for it. Whether he was trying to figure out Minhyuk’s weak points or simply learn some new tactics for himself, he wasn’t sure, but the point was that he was there, watching Minhyuk learn from one of the best trainers in the league.

“Hey, Jung!” Minhyuk called out when he finally got out of the pool, immediately wrapping a towel around his waist, “I’m gonna fuck your ass up at the championship, you know that right? None of this spying is gonna save you.” Ilhoon scoffed and stood up, wincing when his shoulders popped. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he retorted, stepping down the bleachers until he was on the ground, “I’m gonna break your streak and your record too.” Minhyuk merely rolled his eyes.

“A boy can dream,” he taunted, pushing past Ilhoon and heading for the locker rooms. Ilhoon grumbled under his breath. Minhyuk was so  _ infuriating _ . 

“Good work, Ilhoon-ah,” his trainer, Hyunsik, said as he got out of the water and mopped off his face, “keep working like that and you’ll fly past Lee in no time. Pun not intended, of course.” Ilhoon glowered just at the mention of the older man. The championship meet was just a few short weeks away and he knew that Minhyuk was still beating him regularly, if his practice times were anything to go off of. 

“You know, I was looking at the previous times for the championship butterfly heat,” Hyunsik said conversationally, “you’re not too far off from the all time record for that competition. In fact, if you knock off another half second past that, you’d beat the all time record for that facility.” The message was clear in Ilhoon’s mind. If he could beat those two records, he could beat Minhyuk easily.

“Let’s work towards those then,” he said, dropping the towel on the bench and climbing back up on the starting platform, “I’m ready when you are, Coach.”

Ilhoon worked tirelessly for the next few weeks. Every spare moment that he had was spent at the pool, pushing himself to swim faster. After two weeks, Hyunsik had to step in and put his foot down.

“No,” he said firmly, crossing his arms as he stood between Ilhoon and the locker room door, “you haven’t been going to class and you’ve been pushing your body beyond what it can handle. You are going to go home and carb load and do your fucking homework. If I catch you at the pool any time in the next forty eight hours, I’m pulling you from the championship. Got it?” Ilhoon glared and grumbled, but he knew he couldn’t argue with Hyunsik. There were only two more weeks until the championship meet and he couldn’t afford to get injured or risk an academic disqualification.

Grumbling to himself, Ilhoon trudged toward the campus library. He had a ton of work that he’d been neglecting, so he shoved himself into the furthest, most secluded corner he could find and got to work.

He shouldn’t have been surprised when a chair pulled out next to him and Lee Minhyuk sat down. Huta and Cube were right next to each other and students would often bounce between libraries, depending on what materials they needed. 

“I don’t have time for you today,” Ilhoon grumbled, but he knocked a headphone out of his ear anyway. 

“Eunkwang said Hyunsik banned you from the pool,” Minhyuk said, popping the gum in his mouth, “it was the only way he could keep you from hurting yourself, if I was told correctly.” Ilhoon just grunted and forcefully flipped the page in his textbook.

“Are you here for a reason?” he asked, “or are you just going to be a pain in my ass?”

“Oh, definitely a pain in your ass,” Minhyuk replied with a cheeky grin, “and I came to make sure you hadn’t bashed your brains in on a desk. Competitions are only fun when I’ve got a worthy competitor to swim against and no one else can even touch me like you can.” Ilhoon sent him another glare.

“That’s great,” he said sarcastically, “if you want to keep competing against me, then  _ go away _ before I either kill you or lose my academic eligibility, whichever comes first.” Minhyuk rolled his eyes but stood up.

“I’ll let Hyunsik know you haven’t killed yourself yet when I get to the pool later,” he said, taunting lilt to his voice. Ilhoon felt a hand ghost over his shoulders before Minhyuk walked away. With a huff, he hunkered down and got to work. 

When the day of the competition finally rolled around, Ilhoon didn’t feel ready. He and Hyunsik had arrived at the facility extra early, simply because he was too anxious to just sit around waiting. He wasn’t allowed into the pool to warm up until an hour before the first heat. Instead, he sat on the bleachers, staring out at the calm water. 

“Hey, Jung!” Minhyuk climbed the bleachers and sat down next to Ilhoon, his bright Huta red clashing with Ilhoon’s dark Cube purple. Minhyuk didn’t say anything at first. This was his final collegiate competition as well and it wouldn’t surprise Ilhoon if the older man felt just as pensive and sentimental as he did.

“I know we’ve been tough competitors the past couple of years,” Minhyuk finally said, “but I really do wish you luck out there today. Eunkwang told me you’re trying for the facility record.” A small smirk made its way onto his face.

“If there’s anyone I could accept beating me, I suppose it should be you.”

“Take it slow on the warm up laps,” Hyunsik said, “just stretch your muscles out, don’t use up all your power now. Don’t even do a butterfly. Just tread water if you need to, alright? Conserve.” Ilhoon nodded and jumped into the pool. It was the final heat of the championships. Out of the six competitors in the heat, the top three had been automatically qualified from the semi finals, so this was his first and only time in the water for the day. 

Taking Hyunsik’s words to heart, Ilhoon started with just a few slow laps of freestyle, just to work his shoulders and stretch them out. After that, he did a slow backstroke, then simply sat treading under the starting board until the referees called for them to get out of the water. 

Minhyuk was at the starting board to Ilhoon’s left, talking intensely with his coach. Once Eunkwang had gone back to the bench, Minhyuk turned and approached Ilhoon, hand stuck out.

“Good luck,” he said seriously, “you’ll need it.” Ilhoon shook his hand and made a face once his back was turned. The referees called for them to mount their starting blocks, so he pulled his goggles over his eyes and got into position. 

As soon as the whistle blew, Ilhoon was off, diving into the water at full power and immediately taking off. His record to beat was one minute, fifty eight seconds, even. He wasn’t even aware of the swimmers on either side of him, merely focusing on the water rushing past his ears and the swiftly approaching wall. He had seven turns between him and the record, and nothing else mattered.

By the time Ilhoon made it through the seventh turn, his arms and his lungs were burning. He was vaguely aware of the dark blob that was Minhyuk in the lane next to him. They were practically neck and neck. As he saw the wall approaching, he gave one last burst of power and pushed himself ahead, slapping the wall and popping out of the water with a loud gasp. He quickly wiped the water from his eyes and swung around to look at the scoreboard.

Jung Ilhoon.

Second seed.

Cube University.

Time.

One minute.

Fifty seven point nine seven seconds.

And below that: Lee Minhyuk, one minute, fifty seven point nine nine seconds.

Cheers erupted around Ilhoon, but he only cared about one person. Turning to his left, he didn’t even think before launching himself clear across the lane and kissing his boyfriend hard on the mouth. As soon as they separated, Ilhoon’s face was buried in Minhyuk’s shoulder.

“You did it!” the older man screamed, squeezing Ilhoon tightly. All Ilhoon could do was grin. 

_Finally_.


	2. Michelle

_ Tread lightly, _ they said,  _ for the Bogeyman will get you if you don’t.  _

It was a warning Ilhoon had heard since he was a little boy. He never really understood what it meant, so he never paid it any mind. Any adult he asked would go white in the face and stumble around an answer that never helped. Eventually Ilhoon decided it would be better to give it all up and he quickly forgot about the phrase. As he grew up it became less and less common to hear until it was something solely reserved for grandparents looking to scare their disobedient grandchildren. He completely forgot about the legend until a string of disappearances left the town baffled with no one to blame. The police had no leads, all the news channels could do was report the same warnings, and the people were terrified. A curfew was put out along with a plea for anyone with information to come forward.

It all started a few months ago when Seo Eunkwang didn’t show up for work. Usually a very punctual person, he was absent one day with not so much as a text. After a few days of this, his boss reported him missing to the police and so it began. They searched his house, his car that hadn’t been driven in days, and his whole neighborhood. They interviewed family, friends, and neighbors, but it was fruitless. There was no sign of him at the nearest airport, train station, or even bus stop. Eunkwang had simply up and disappeared into thin air. Which of course couldn’t have happened but it was all they had. The case was left open but there wasn’t much people go do with not so much of a trace of evidence. As the days turned into a week people began to forget about Eunkwang. Until the next disappearance.

A room full of high school students sat patiently waiting for their homeroom teacher. He was late for the first time of the year. As the minutes crept on the students began to take advantage of the lack of supervision and began to talk and mess around. Eventually another teacher came to quiet the students and found that they were unattended. The principal was notified and that was how they came to find that Peniel Shin was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t at home, his car was still in his driveway, and his phone was sitting on his nightstand, presumably where it had been left the night before. The police looked back into the Seo case, but just like that one there was simply no evidence. The only difference with this case, however, was that they did not have the luxury of another week until the next disappearance. 

Lee Changsub was the mayor of their small town and he showed great sympathy to the families of the people who had suddenly disappeared. He had worked with the police to give them any resources they needed to solve this case and had talked with the news stations to make sure they were only reporting accurate information. He had planned to meet with the Seo and Shin families the following morning but he never showed up to his office. While the people were not shocked by the nature of the disappearance, they were extremely shaken. Their leader had been ripped away from them and they were no closer to finding who, or what, was responsible for this. It was shocking how even after three disappearances the person still left no traces. They obviously didn’t want to be caught and that only made the police more determined. And that was when the messages that Ilhoon hadn’t seen since he was a child started popping up across every news station. 

Im Hyunsik was the chief of police. He had worked tirelessly ever since Seo Eunkwang disappeared to try and bring the person who was responsible for this to justice. He stayed at the precinct long after everyone had left and was there before anyone else. One morning, however, when everyone arrived for the morning shift they found the precinct completely empty. There was no trace of Hyunsik except for the open notebook and now cold cup of coffee sitting on his desk. This was the disappearance that struck fear into the hearts of the townspeople. If not even the police were safe, what did that mean for all of them? It was undeniable now. The only reasonable solution was that there was a serial within the town that prefered to attack under the cover of darkness. The police put out a warning and this was when they began enforcing a curfew.

The people were anxiously awaiting who would be next. Stores started to close and some parents started keeping their children home for school. After a few days, everyone began to hope that maybe it was over. Maybe the killer was done. Maybe they were finally free from whatever terror was plaguing them. But of course they weren’t. Yook Sungjae was one of the few people who kept his restaurant open during all of this. He wanted to maintain at least some semblance of normalcy amongst the chaos that was occuring. And a lot of people took advantage of that. They would gather in refuge in Sungjae’s small cafe and watch the news together, hoping and praying for the end. One day however something was off. The restaurant was unlocked at its normal time and the TV was already set on the main news channel but Sungjae was nowhere to be found. The grill was hot from having been on for a while but nothing had been cooked on it. Once again the police could find no traces of Sungjae and no evidence that would lead to figuring out who did this. The people didn’t let their guard down again. 

Ilhoon had known all of the people that disappeared. He was closer with some over others but each disappearance stung. He didn’t know how this could be happening but it scared him to watch his friends slowly began to disappear one by one. But the disappearance that hurt Ilhoon most was Lee Minhyuk. His boyfriend went out for his morning run one day and never came back. Usually he ran with some friends but that morning he decided to get a head start and went out a little earlier. Ilhoon was always worried about him when he went out alone, especially now, and he had every right to be worried. Minhyuk’s decision proved to be a fatal mistake and he disappeared without a trace. Everyone knew Minhyuk and Minhyuk knew everyone. He was a sunshine that would wave to you as he ran past your car. It was a shock to the town when he was suddenly gone. The people pitied Ilhoon. They knew how close the pair was and had been anxiously awaiting their engagement. Now all they could do was mourn the loss of one of the brightest people in the town. 

Ilhoon had vowed that he was going to get revenge. That he was going to find who took his boyfriend and his friends away from him and he was going to make them pay. Every night he went out after curfew and walked around town. The police had quickly learned not to threaten him with punishment because Ilhoon simply didn’t care. He was bound and determined and not even the law could stop him. As per his new routine, he was walking home alone one night. He knew it was dangerous to be out past curfew but he wasn’t scared. He wanted to find who was responsible for these disappearances. The police were of no help so he decided to take it upon himself. He just turned onto his street and he hadn’t seen anything on his entire walk. At least not until he saw the tall, shadowy figure standing at the end of his street. He froze, watching as the shadow almost seemed to transform into the silhouette and began to move towards him at inhuman speeds. That wasn’t a serial killer waiting to jump him. This wasn’t even a person. 

Ilhoon turned on his heels and sprinted down the street, screaming for help, but no one opened a door for him. He didn’t understand how this could be happening. The Bogeyman was supposed to come after naughty children, not rip innocent adults from their homes. He ran as he could but it still wasn’t enough. The shadow reached out and grabbed at his ankle, tripping him and sending him crashing down onto the pavement. He tried to scramble to his feet but the grip on his ankle was too strong. All he could now was lay there until he was completely taken over by the shadows. For like several others, Jung Ilhoon didn’t heed the warnings and now was taken somewhere far from this Earth. 

_ Tread lightly. For the Bogeyman will get you if you don’t. _


End file.
